Te amo Ecuador

Well, I finally made it to Machala after arriving in Quito a day late as well as attending orientation. I'm pretty sure the place where we stayed was a convent with nuns. I was very excited to meet the other people also studying in Ecuador from all over the world. They are very nice. To start my adventure, the 4 other students and I took a 10 hour van ride from Quito to Machala. There were 2 people from Germany, 1 boy from Austria and a girl from Switzerland. On our way, we were all just staring out the window, marveling at all the new sights we saw. To name a few, the humongous mountains that surround Quito and neighboring cities such as Latacunga, Ambato, and Riobamba. They make the mountains in the Cascades look small, at least smaller. Another one was the houses people live in which are small and kinda falling down. It was quite a sight. When we finally got out of the mountains, the landscape morphed into banana trees on plantations as far as the eye could see. We arrived in the evening to Machala. Unfortunately, the sun was rapidly setting when we arrived so we couldn't see much of the city for long. What we did see was much more urban than the other towns that we drove through. Then, we got to meet our families. I was excited to meet my family but at the same time nervous. I felt relaxed once I met them and went to there house. The house I am living in is small-ish but it is quite nice. I am grateful that I have my host sister, Bernarda, because she tries to help me understand what going on cause my Spanish vocabulary is basically limited to hello, goodbye, questions words, and numbers. Maybe a few other words too.

I have been in Machala officially 4 days. And today, I started to attend school. It was kinda hard because the school year here started in May I think so starting half way is not easy. School is definitely different here but most of the subjects are the same as back at home. One difference is that, as a student, you only change classroom for one class. Other than that, the teachers switch classrooms when the class is over. This is kinda nice because then I have less of a chance getting lost in a new school. It was kinda overwhelming because everyone was looking at me because I am new and foreign. I guess that came in handy when trying to friends today. I did successfully make a few and they helped me to translate the material a bit so I could understand what the teacher was teaching. For one of the classes, I didn't even really understand what the subject was. I just know that it had to do with a map of the area and reading aloud what the symbols mean like different kinds of roads, trains, and bridges. For my sake, the teacher did have a map in English and had me read from the legend to the class. That was a little scary cause even at home, I have a slight fear of public speaking. Doing it in a foreign country isn't much better. Oh well. I survived. Hopefully it will be less confusing and I will be able to understand it better as time goes on. I wish luck to those reading this who start school in September!

Buenos Noches

Counting down the days

Hello
My name is Aviva and I am going to be an exchange student in Ecuador for a year. I leave in a little less than a week and am really excited to be going on this adventure. I can't believe it's finally here. I guess I'm keeping this blog so all my friends and family can see what I am doing while I am away. Oh, I'm gonna miss everyone so much but I know that I will make a whole bunch of new friends really soon. As they say in Ecuador, chao!